SLAS New Product Award (NPA) Designation

Award

All exhibitors who will be presenting "new products" at SLAS2016 are encouraged to participate in this competition. The product entry must be less than one year old in its current form (since SLAS' previous annual conference) to be considered. If your company meets the criteria as detailed below, and wants to be considered for the SLAS2016 New Product Award Designation please complete the application here and submit to Mary Geismann at mgeismann@slas.org.

The SLAS New Product Award (NPA) Designation will be presented to as many as three winning product entries at SLAS2016. Recipients of the award will receive the following:

Official SLAS NPA Designation Plaque

SLAS NPA Designation Media Coverage

Inclusion in SLAS Awards News Release

Picture on SLAS2016 Web Site

Interview on The Lab Man Podcast Show at SLAS2016

Live and Recorded in the SLAS Member Center on the Exhibit Floor

Competition Guidelines/Process

Prior to the exhibition, exhibiting companies are notified about the SLAS NPA Designation competition and given the opportunity to declare participation.

a. Additionally, on-site in San Diego, entry forms will be placed in each booth during set-up offering exhibiting companies the opportunity to opt-in to the competition if they have not done so already. Exhibitors will place the entry form below into a ballot box located in the SLAS Show Management Office, no later than 1 pm on Sunday, January 24.

All product entries must be on the exhibition floor and have some supporting data indicating the product works as advertised.

Exceptions may be made for product entries deemed too large to display at the exhibition center.

The product entry must be less than one year old in its current form (since SLAS' previous annual conference) to be considered.

New Product Entry Clarification: A product is considered new and therefore eligible for this contest if it is commercially available for purchase within 90 days pre- and post-conference.

Major product enhancements may be considered.

The top three winning companies of the SLAS NPA Designation must have agreed to participate in the competition and pre-accept the designation before official conferment.

Evaluation Guidelines/Process

The evaluation process is a two-phase approach:

Judging

Monday, January 25 and Tuesday, January 26

The judges will divide the new product entries equally among themselves. Teams of judges will visit, review and rank the top three new products entries assigned. When complete, the judges will meet to tally their respective rankings. This should result in a Top Contenders List to be considered as part of Phase 2.

In Phase 2, each of the judges will visit, review and judge each of the Top Contender new product entries using the scoring criteria below. When complete, the judges will meet to tally the scores and rank the Top Contender new product entries. The top three highest scoring new products will receive the SLAS NPA Designation.

Note — At the primary judges' discretion, they may choose up to three top new product entries, but no more than three winners. In some years, there may only be one or two top new product winners.

Confirmation & Announcement
The top three winning companies will be notified on Tuesday evening. The announcement of the SLAS2016 New Product Award winners will take place in the Exhibit Hall on Wednesday morning at 9:15am. Each company should be prepared shortly afterwards for necessary media pictures and to record the live show of The Lab Man podcast.

Scoring Criteria

As part of Phase 2, the primary judges will visit, review and score each of the Top Contender new product entries on the exhibit floor. The judges' decision criteria will be based on the following four categories (in no order of significance):

Market Opportunity

Impact

Originality

Proof of Concept

Scoring System

5-to-1 Rating Scale:

5  Outstanding, Novel and Broad Impact for a New Product

4  Very Good, Solid, Novel Product

3  Some Unique New Product Qualities

2  Needs More Proof and Development

1  Not Substantially New or Improved

0  Not New at All

Eligibility

The following individuals are not eligible to participate or be considered for the SLAS NPA Designation program: SLAS Board of Directors, officers, the SLAS Awards and Grants Advisory Committee, contractors, employees, members of the Judging Panel, family members, and/or those considered to be "insiders." Candidates companies affiliated with anyone on the Judging Panel are permitted to participate, but the Judge must recuse him or herself from evaluating that particular candidate.

Non-Discrimination Statement

Discrimination based on race, religion, gender, age, national origin, ethnicity, veterans status, or disability in regard to the SLAS NPA Designation is prohibited. Each candidate company shall be evaluated based on the award's criteria which are tied to SLAS's exempt purpose of advancing the science and education of technologies in the laboratory.

Reservation

SLAS reserves the right to select and deselect any company at any given time. All decisions are final.